


Something Soft

by sylversmyth



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, I dont really know what im doing, Porn with Feelings, Smut, but otherwise just vanilla, gentle femdom if you squint just because i like that for them, honestly just sickeningly soft porn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-11 23:58:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16862428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sylversmyth/pseuds/sylversmyth
Summary: “Come here!” Pike demands, and makes grabby hands at him until he gives in and joins her. “Well” he says as he takes her hands, kissing each in turn, “how could I ever say no when you’re so polite?”Or, Scanlan loves to greet Pike when she gets home, but this time they each had something a little more involved in mind.Or, Scanlan has a surprise for Pike, and she distracts him quite thoroughly along the way.





	Something Soft

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written fanfic before and also im but a little aroace virgin so I really and truly have no idea what i'm doing. Feedback is good but please be nice, enjoy soft Pikelan with me <3

It’s started raining lightly when Pike leaves the temple for the day and begins her long walk back into town. Drizzle dampens her shoulders, but she welcomes the sensation, the heat of the summer day washing away with the cool, fresh water. The air feels alive, heavy with the smell of plants rejoicing in the rain, of soil quenching it’s thirst, and that very particular smell of hot roads finally cooling. Even as a cleric of the Everlight, Pike loves a good rainy day as much as the next person. It makes the world fresh again. A smile crosses her face, and she picks up her pace to a trot, hastening homeward with a renewed energy even as the loose fabric of her trousers begins to tangle damply about her short legs. 

Many days, this walk home is a shared one, as Scanlan splits his time between helping once again restore Sarenrae’s temple, and helping rebuild the Cobalt Soul, learning his way around his newfound position as a Champion of Ioun. Sometimes Grog joins him, working on his new reading and writing skills when he’s not busy at the Trial Forge. Today however, Scanlan had told her to meet him home, and that there would be a surprise waiting for her. It’s a date night for them, something Scanlan tries to plan often enough in his charmingly hesitant courtship of her. As opposed to going out, Scanlan has proposed they stay in, and then refused to say anything at all about what he plans on them doing. Pike had tried to weasel something out of Grog, but he knows how to make himself scarce, and Scanlan must have impressed upon him the importance of this particular date night. She smiles to herself, half excited to see what kind of a surprise he was working on and half just in amusement at his over-the-top dramatics as he tried to hide his plans from her in the last few days.

The walk goes quickly from there and soon she is easing open the front door of their little shared home, soaked through and chilled, but happy. Her clothes cling to her frame, and the shock of white hair is a soggy tangle that lies flat against her head, the bun hanging with the added weight of water. A few loose curls stick to her cheeks, and she pulls them behind her ears before stepping inside.

A sound she has come to know as the sound of home greets her from the hall towards the sitting room, an absent-minded smattering of hums and nonsense syllables and snippets of lyric that tells her Scanlan is deep in his thoughts. Tugging the door quietly shut so as not to disturb him, she peels off her wet shoes and pads down the hall, thankfully managing not to make any loud noises as she creeps towards him.

Scanlan stands near the window fiddling absentmindedly with a quill. A guitar has been pulled down from the assortment of instrument stands that take up one side of the room, and it rests on the armchair, the floor around it scattered with papers full of lyrics and chord progressions. His eyes are closed, lashes splayed across his cheekbones and brow furrowed, and he sways a little to the rhythm of whatever new piece he’s composing in his head. As she sidles up next to him, a poorly placed footstep creaks, giving her away, and he finally breaks from his reverie. Scanlan’s eyes light up with first joy and then realization and playful horror as she flings her soaked body into his arms. Despite his flinch at the cool and the wet, Scanlan quickly wraps Pike up tight in his arms and buries his nose in the crook of her neck, murmuring into her skin a muffled, “Welcome home.” His words brush warm against her skin, and her heart sings in her throat for the space of a breath. It’s only been about a few months since they began living together, and even with Scanlan’s enthusiastic greetings becoming a near-daily occurrence, they never fail to make Pike’s insides feel delightfully warm and bubbly.

“Thank you Scanlan,” she replies, her voice going soft, and she tightens her arms around him in return. They stand there for a moment, Scanlan with his eyes closed breathing gently against Pikes skin, and Pike pressing her cheek into the softness of his hair. She pulls back and admires her handiwork in the form of his damp shirtfront.

Scanlan glances down as well, and chuckles. “Well, I suppose we’re a matched set now.”

She melts back into him, his laughter spilling over into her as she leans in and presses nose to forehead with him, eyes scrunching up with her smile.

“Matching or no, I think wet clothes aren’t really what I had in mind for the afternoon,” Pike teases. She winks at him as she turns out of his arms, a Wink that Vex would even be proud of. “I think I’m gonna go take a bath, warm up a little. You can join me if you think you can get away from your music for a bit,” she tosses the invitation over her shoulder as she wanders upstairs towards their master bathroom. Scanlan squawks in protest.

“Babe! Light of my life, my moon, my stars, how could you abandon me like this?” She turns to see him standing, quill still in hand and arms outstretched, both an invitation to return and a display of the Pike-shaped damp spot left on his clothes from her greeting. She snorts, even as her heart fluttered a bit. He may act pathetic, but he’s like a magnet, she feels drawn back to him, wants to kiss the little joking pout from his lips and drag him back to the bath with her. But she holds herself back. She enjoys teasing him too much to pass up the opportunity. Pike knows she can make his squirm, it’s one of her favorite things about him. He has such a composed facade, ever the flirt and the smooth talker, but she can reduce him to a flushing mess. It makes her feel powerful, to know he’s so affected by her. Her insides warm at the thought, and the smile on her faces widens despite her.  
“I did say you could join, didn’t I? Or do you want to share what you’re up to over there?”  
Scanlan’s cheeks flush as he glances again at the jumble of papers before placing the quill back on the counter and striding to where she leans against the bannister to plant a kiss on her forehead.

“Nope, you’re not getting it from me that easily!” Another kiss, this one on the cheek. “I promised a surprise, and I plan to deliver!” Finally a kiss on the lips, still gentle, before he pulls back to grin at her. “Now, as far as plans go, I believe there’s a bath to be had, and I don’t intend to miss it.”

~

“Come here!” Pike demands, and makes grabby hands at him until he gives in and joins her. “Well” he says as he takes her hands, kissing each in turn, “how could I ever say no when you’re so polite?” She turns her hand in his until it cups his cheek, lingering before running back to tangle in his hair. His hands drop near her waist, hesitant, like he still can’t believe he is allowed to put them there. Finally his fingers settle lightly against the fabric of her shirt, only to grip involuntarily tighter when her hands began to move in a slow combing motion. She curls her fingers in a gentle tug and his eyes flutter shut, mouth falling lax. He hums quietly as she runs her hands through his hair, pulling the tie out, removing tangles as she goes and gently scratching at his scalp. Scanlan’s breath hitches when her nails drag over the back of his neck, and dear Sarenrae, that’s a beautiful sound. She could listen to it for hours, fingers weaving through his soft curls and his breath huffing gently into the space between them. Space she could close so easily. Her heart feels caught in her throat, that she can have this, want this, that he is so pliant and so responsive under her hands. Overwhelmed, she pulls him in to kiss his face: his cheek, his forehead, his nose, his fluttering eyelids. She presses them together nose to nose, breathing his air, and his eyes flash open, pupils blown.  
“Pike” he breaths, and kisses her quickly on the lips before pulling back to gaze at her with shining eyes. “Gods, I don’t think I’ll ever deserve this” he murmurs, voice wavering slightly with emotion, and Pike’s feels her heart twist in her chest. Somehow, even now, he still can’t see his own worth. Such an ironic trait for a performer, and yet it makes perfect sense at the same time. He’s so used to people only seeing the facade he shows them that somehow he’s fallen for his own tricks. He leans in for another kiss, but this time Pike dodged him, catching his chin in one hand and curling the other securely into his hair. She runs a thumb over his lower lip and tries to slow her heart enough to get her words out straight, instead of in a flustered nervous mess. She looks back up to meet his gaze. 

“Scanlan… I know I’ve said it, and I mean it every time I say it, but, you know I love you, right?” Her hand in his hair, no longer holding him back, switches back to combing through his locks, playing with the ends of the strands almost absentmindedly, a nervous fidget. “Sometimes you worry me. I know you love me but sometimes I feel like, like … you put me on a pedestal, ya know? Like you want me but you can’t see you have me. You don’t ever stop to think that maybe we’re on equal footing.” Scanlan’s eyes drop for a moment, forehead wrinkling, but Pike plows on, she has to now, everything she’s been thinking spills out and she can’t stop the rush of words. 

“Scanlan, if you wanted me but never thought you could have me, I’m no better! I’ve had you right there all this time, I knew it would only take a word to bring us together, and never let myself want you! I was scared, I think. I didn’t want things to change. I mean, you had your moments, but gods, you could be so intense sometimes! And I loved having that aimed at me, but I didn’t think I deserved you either. You were all charming and witty and charismatic and beautiful, and here I am, kinda awkward, anxious, desperately trying to keep my head above water sometimes. How could I have ever deserved you? But look at us. Here we are!” Her lips curl up into a smile. Scanlan lifts a hand to cover the one on his chin, leaning into it, pressing it firmly to his face.

“Maybe,” he says after a pause, and looks back up, “we just have a lot more learning about each other to do. And that’s ok! We have time! No more dragons, no more gods. Not for a little while, at least.” He smiles, a timid smile, not the shining one he can plaster on at will, not the giddy one he wore earlier when they were nose to nose, but real and warm. “You’re right, it’s not quite fair of me to hold you up like that, or to make you feel like you’re, I dunno, obligated to live up to some standard I’ve built up around you. But Pikey, baby, let me worship you a little bit! Just, you you, the one I’m dating, not the one I dreamed about as a horny fucked up kid. Right?” His smile drifted into something secret, something that makes her shiver and flush as he leans forward. “Because I do want to worship you. All of you. And you absolutely deserve it,” he purrs, the last words breathed hot into her ear. “And if you tell me enough times, maybe I’ll believe that I deserve it too.”  
“You do. We both do.”  
Pike hauls him back to her, pulls him flush to the cabinets so she can wrap her legs around him from her perch on the countertop, and she kisses him.

~

Scanlan’s fingers brush reverently against her skin, dipping under the hem of her shirt and pausing before he lifts the damp fabric carefully over her head. His eyes are wide as they glance quickly up into her own, before darting back down again to trace over the newly exposed skin, and then up once more. Goosebumps raise as air touches moisture, cooling her further, but she feels hot inside. Slowly, holding eye contact for as long as he can, Scanlan leans in to press a kiss to Pike’s sternum, reaching behind her for the ties on her breast band. He pauses, muttering a quick “May I?” into her chest.

“Um,” Pike exhales shakily, “Yeah. Yes.” Scanlan huffs out a chuckle as his deft fingers untie the band and it drops from her form, slipping off the counter to pool on the floor by Scanlan’s feet. His fingers grip at her back, sliding down and up again over the now-uncovered expanse of skin. Pike shivers, both from the cold of the exposure and from the catch and drag of Scanlan’s fingertips, each rough and calloused from years of plucking strings and pinching frets. She hadn’t expected that. Sure, she’s held his hands countless times, sometimes in the heat of battle and sometimes for the pleasure of holding hands, but then she’d mostly noticed the softness of his palms. But here, the rough pads of his fingers cause a delicious friction as they revel in the feel of skin on skin. Slowly, he cups his hands around to the sides of her breasts, running his thumbs lightly over the peaks of her nipples, and he lowers his face to her chest once more, licking an open-mouthed kiss across her collarbone. They groan at once, and despite everything she’s feeling, Pike snorts out a breathless laugh at their unison.

Scanlan leans back. “Oh, so you think this is funny, do you?” he says, a grin on his lips and a glint in his eyes. Suddenly, his arms tighten around her and he tugs her forward to the edge of the countertop, presses his face into the crook of her neck, and blows a loud raspberry. This time, pike squeals with laughter, sliding forward off the counter an into Scanlan’s embrace. She can feel the chuckle that vibrates through his chest. They stand there, woven together, mood settling warmly back into their former easy intimacy. Scanlan remains frozen, face tucked into her, breathing slowly and deeply. She turns her head, lets her smile rest against Scanlan’s hair.

“I think,” she starts quietly, not wanting to disrupt the settling stillness, “I think I want you to have fewer clothes on. And maybe me too.”

“Fine, just a little longer,” Scanlan says into her neck, not moving an inch. He squeezes her against him once, and then loosens his grip, stepping back to begin unbuttoning his shirt. Pike leans against the counter, chest warm with fondness. Scanlan gets to the last buttons, the fluff of his chest hair showing through the gap in the fabric. Gods, it looks so soft. Before they started doing this, she wouldn’t have thought that she would find his chest hair as endearing as she does, but she just wants to…

Reaching out, she splays a hand across his chest, just as he lets the shirt slide free from his shoulders. Scanlan represses a shiver, and Pike steps forward into his space once again. She holds her breath, mesmerized, and runs her fingers along his chest, then around to his back. Scanlan has been frozen since she touched him, practically vibrating with want under her gentle fingertips but not moving an inch. His eyes are closed and he lets out a small sigh. She steps in closer, hands sliding around to the small of his back, fingers dipping into the dimples above his ass and then further, slipping just beneath the band of his trousers.

She pulls him tight against her with her well-placed grip, and pulls him into a kiss that’s both soft and passionate. Reflexively, his arms come up to wind around her neck, and he melts in her arms. Not for the first time, she loves the strength she has, that now allows her to hold Scanlan’s weight up against her body. She can feel his heartbeat against her chest, can feel the fluff of this chest hair rubbing lightly against her breasts. They are skin to skin and somewhere in the back of Pike’s mind, she has a primal desire to bury into him. To hide herself under his skin and curl up there just feel like they’re one. She wants desperately to get closer. She shifts, pressing into him, slotting their hips together and smiling into the kiss when she feels a groan rumble through him. She made him make that sound! Feeling powerful, brazen even, she rubs against him once more, pressing her thigh to the bulge forming between his legs and nipping at his lower lip. This time, not a groan, but a whine, high pitched and needy, sounds in the back of his throat. His hips stutter forwards and he licks at Pike’s mouth, asking for entry with swipes of his tongue that verge on desperation. She lets him in with a quiet moan, hands smoothing along his back. His muscles are taut under his skin, she can feel the tension beneath her fingertips. His hips grind up onto her thigh minutely in a steady rhythm, so minutely that Pike suspects he doesn’t even notice what he’s doing. Gasping, Scanlan breaks away from the kiss, resting his forehead against Pike’s and catching his breath.

“Wait,” he says quietly, and Pike’s hands still. “I can, I,” he swallows. “I’d like to see you, first. Take care of you. I can wait, I’m not in a hurry. But I want to do this, I want…,” he bites off his thought and unwinds his arms from around her neck. He lets them drift down her sides, and walks them back the few short steps to the counter and presses her against it. He leans in and kisses her once more, then leaves her mouth and tucks in under the side of her jaw, then to the hollow of the throat, down, down. Dropping to his knees, he continues on his path. He lingers on her breasts, scraping his teeth lightly across the soft skin before soothing the spot with the flat of his tongue. Pike can feel the heat of his breath and his mouth across her body, and she shivers at the feeling. Scanlan kisses his way down her stomach, punctuating with little bites and licks across the scars that mark her abdomen. She squirms, the feeling of his scruff against her skin both ticklish and delicious at once, paired with the feeling of him drawing closer and closer to where she craves his touch. The trousers, already a damp nuisance, have become an offense to her very being, and she whines, moving to shuck them off. Scanlan’s hands meet hers at the clasp, and he pushes them out of the way. He begins unfastening the buttons and plants kisses on each bit of skin that becomes visible, pulling them down until just her smallclothes remain. They twist inside out as he peels them down to her knees, and finally presses his face into her mound, breathing in the smell of her. He mouths at the spot where her inner thigh meets her hipbone before stopping and looking up at her.

“Please” He asks, tone approaching begging, as he looks up at her through dark lashes. He always was so pretty, but having him on his knees, loose trousers visibly tented, eyes nearly black with desire, lips red from kissing: it was almost more than she could bear. And to have him begging for her? 

“Yes,” she says, mouth feeling dry, “Yes.” And then, “Fuck!” as he licks a stripe across her smallclothes where a damp spot is already forming. He hums as he tastes her, and she shudders at the vibration. He breaks away to breathe, to smell her, and then sits back with his fingers hooked into the band. He pulls the smallclothes down to meet the tangle of fabric that is her trousers, and untwists them until she can step out, finally completely bare. She knows that with him still covered, there’s a slight imbalance of power, but unexpectedly, as he sits back to rake his eyes over her, she realizes the power is hers, and she suddenly feels giddy with it. She knows just as she knows him inside and out that he won’t do anything she doesn’t tell him to, that if she told him to stay there and watch as she got herself off and to not touch himself, he would do it without hesitation or question. Perhaps that would be a conversation for another time. For now though…

“Come back now, Scanlan, please.” She reaches a hand towards him, to cup the side of his head, fingers loosely gripping his curls. As soon as the words leave her lips, it’s like a trance has been broken.

“Pike,” he mutters, voice sounding wrecked, and noses his way past the thatch of white curls to her slit. Without further delay, his tongue, hot and wonderfully slick, slips between her folds before brushing across her clit. It’s like electricity, warm and soft and yet all the same her body seizes, and without his hands pressing her hips to the counter and her fist tightening in his hair, she may have toppled right then. He groans against her and nudges her legs further apart, coaxing a knee up and over his shoulder. Pressing a kiss to her lifted inner thigh, he dives back in and begins to set a rhythm, lapping, stroking, sucking, driving her to breathless cries. Of course he’s good at this, some distant part of her thinks wryly, he’s a bard, rhythm is just what he does. She’s startled from her thoughts by the feeling of one of his hands joining his mouth. He slides a finger into her, and focuses the attention of his mouth on her clit, giving her just the suction she needs, on the edge between too much and never enough. A second finger joins the first, and he crooks them as he works his arm between them, and she clenches down on him, gasping out her release. As the warmth of her climax washes past her, she goes limp, grasping weakly at his hair, the sides of is face, his shoulders, anything, just needing to touch him for the sake of his touch. His hand pulls away as she finishes, and she sees him look up at her through his lashes just as he sucks the two fingers into his mouth, and his eyes slip shut again. Even wrung out as she is, the sight of him sends another tremor through her, a soft, “oh, fuck,” escaping her.

“You ok there, Pikey?” Scanlan asks. His eyes are wide open again and his voice soft as he sits back on his heels and gazes up towards her. She nods mutely and sinks to the floor to join him, too blissed out to keep standing. With a soft chuckle, Scanlan gathers her toward him, just holding her, skin on skin, their hearts beating a fast duet. 

~

The air feels cool on her hot skin, and she is suddenly once more aware of the sound of rain hitting the window pane. The world slowly comes back to her attention, and she leans out of Scanlan’s embrace to open the tap to a stream of hot water. They cuddle comfortably, Pike drifting into something between a doze and bone-deep relaxation, until Scanlan shifts her to cut off the stream of water. It’s plenty high now, the runoff drain gurgling away. Pike clambers to her feet and steps into the large tub, sitting down in the warmth and letting out a sigh, allowing her head to fall back against the ledge. She smiles at Scanlan, who has stood and is now stepping out of the pool of linen on the floor, fully nude. He really is beautiful. His brown hair curls gently around his ears and down across his shoulders to his back, and the dusting across his chest tapers down to a trail that is no longer hidden behind fabric. His cock stands from the thatch of hair, indeed a bit short and a bit thick, but despite the running joke, not by any means a cube. It simply suits him. And perhaps Pike’s favorite thing about him, she thinks as she looks her fill and he colors under her gaze, is that he’s a blusher. Full body blush, his face and ears and chest all going red and his cock twitching minutely as he stands and lets her look. Trying to cover the pause in his motions, he cracks a grin and cocks his hip at her, posing.

“Like what you see, babe?” He says, striking a new pose, and now it’s Pike’s turn to break into a smile and a chuckle. “Always,” she replies, honesty warming her voice, and she reaches out for him.

Without hesitation, he steps into the tub beside her and, sitting fluidly, curls into the space at her side, leaning in to kiss her deeply. She can taste herself on his tongue, and the thought of his face as he tasted her on his fingers makes her core ache. She licks further into his mouth, and Scanlan melts into the kiss, plastering himself against her as best he can. She can feel his erection against her thigh, but he says nothing of it, only kisses her like she’s his air. Feeling bold from the physical proof of her effect on him, she lightly palms at his cock, teasing the head with a gentle touch.

“Scanlan, baby, what do you want?” she asks him lightly, punctuating the question with a light peck on the lips before tilting their foreheads together, giving him time to speak. It’s a moment before he can, as her hand keeps up its teasing while she waits for him to respond. His breath shudders a bit in his sigh.

“Gods, Pike. I wanna be in you so fucking badly.” 

Turning to face him fully, she throws a leg across his lap so she is straddling him and slides her mouth back onto his, rolling her hips against him. She’s still wrung out from her last orgasm, but the warmth in her belly grows once more into a soft flame that keeps her rocking against him. She kisses him hungrily, hands tangled behind his head. Gasping, he breaks from the kiss, hips stuttering upward to meet her.

Reaching a hand between them, Pike gives his cock a firm stroke, and Scanlan seizes under her, his back arching. She lets her thumb drag across the head, before pumping downwards once more and then lining herself up. Slowly, she sinks down onto him, both of them gasping as she takes him in. Scanlan presses a kiss, overwhelmed and slightly sloppy, to Pike’s throat. “Pike,” he whispers into her skin, “oh Gods, Pike, oh, fuck.” Finally she’s seated fully against him, snugly straddling his lap as he leans into her, a whine caught in his throat. His hands, which had before held her hips to him, now flutter urgently up and down her sides, as if he wants to touch all of her at once and simply cannot decide where they should stay. Finally, he settles on cradling her face gently between his palms. “Please,” he gasps, and she begins to roll her hips again, in earnest now. She kisses the moans and breathy sighs from his lips, reveling in the way he twitches and starts underneath her, his back arching. Around them, the water rolls, their motion pushing waves to slosh over the sides, but Pike pays no mind and moves faster, chasing Scanlan’s bliss and her own as the heat inside her grows with his every gasp and whine. He leans into her, mouthing messily along the line of her neck and down to her collarbone before he thumps his forehead into the crook of her neck and gasps, “Pike. I’m so close Pike, please.” He trembles like a leaf, his thighs tensed, his stomach fluttering. Pike slows the roll of her hips to something more tender, enough to keep him riding the edge without pushing him over. She traces a finger along his face, and leans back, making him look at her.  
“Relax, love. I’ve got you.” She sweeps her hands firmly over his sides, his stomach, urging him to relax the tension in his body and she watches his face go slack again. She rewards him with a kiss on the corner of his mouth, “Much better.” She begins to rock against him again, slowly at first, then faster, until she’s back at their previous pace and Scanlan is once again moaning beneath her attentions, but not writhing this time. “Good, Scanlan” Pike murmurs to him. “You took care of me, let me do this for you. You deserve something soft.” He nods mutely, and leans up to kiss her. She can feel him coming apart, not wound up but instead looser and looser until he practically melts. When he comes, it’s with an involuntary twitch and a soft groan that Pike greedily licks from his mouth. She gathers him into her arms and he holds her back, and the two rest in the warm water while the world fades back into focus.

~

They finally leave their bath for the comfort of warm, dry towels when the water has started to cool and Pike announces that comfy as she is, her fingers have started to prune and it’s probably time they get up. Once they’re both wrapped in the outrageously soft robes Scanlan had insisted on their getting and the wet clothes have been put by the fire to dry, Scanlan steers her to their bedroom.

“Wait here, Pikey.”  
With a peck on the forehead, he deposits her in the room and darts back out again. Pike smiles, and walks over to their bed, clambering on and arranging herself so she’s curled comfortably against the pillows. She herself may not have been a pillows person, but with Scanlan around, their bed has become something luxurious, with the softest sheets and a pile of pillows bordering on ridiculous, given that most of them get shoved off the bed to make room for the two to sleep. Now though, the stray ones have been collected, the bed is made neatly, and Pike can smell a hint of Scanlan’s favorite lavender oil lingering in the fabric.

Absentmindedly, Pike begins to braid her hair back into the long strands that make up her usual buns, and pins the damp hair up, keeping it off her neck. She’s putting the tie around the second bun when Scanlan returns, his guitar in one hand and a fresh mug of tea in the other. Pike reaches for the offered tea and takes a sip: just how she likes it, lots of sugar, no cream. Outside their room, the rain taps against the window and roof, and the sound is joined by the soft ringing of notes as Scanlan tunes his guitar. He has joined her now and is sitting cross legged at the foot of the bed, guitar sitting in his lap. His face is serious, thoughtful, and Pike loves him for his quiet intensity. Still looking down, with his voice soft, he begins to speak.

“We met four years ago today. I think I fell in love the moment I saw you, but I don’t know that I fell in love with you. Just with an idea of you. But, I fell in love. And then I got to know you! And Pike, you were so much more than I had ever dreamed. Powerful, willful, clever, funny, brave. You were everything. You still are, even though I know now you’re more than just that. When I was in love with the idea of you, I was also showing you the idea of me, though I don’t think I knew it for a while. But, I think we’re a much better pair when we’re both real people.” He grins lopsidedly, and Pike lifts one of his hands from where it sits atop the guitar and presses a kiss to the knuckles.

“I think so too.” For a moment they’re both quiet, and Pike plays with his fingers while Scanlan gathers his thoughts.  
“I doubt you remember this day as any kind of anniversary, but I do. And this time, I’m with you, and I love you, and I thought it was worth some recognition, and some thankfulness too. I’m thankful every day that I met you Pike Trickfoot.”

“Oh, Scanlan. I’m thankful too. So thankful.” Her eyes burn a little, and she squeezes the hand in her own gently. He lifts their entwined fingers to his lips and then lets go, settling his fingers gently on the frets. A song tumbles forth as he plays delicate chords and weaves them with his clever words. 

Old habits had her expecting something showy, overly complimentary, sweet but a little too much. She should have known better. Of course he was often over the top, but never when it counted, and he meant for this gift to count. True, he calls her his light, his angel, his savior, but deeper down it’s a song about the wonderful, beautiful, and very real gnome that he loves. He sings of quiet moments holding hands, of lying together in afterglow, of finding love after loving a fantasy. It isn’t the song she had expected, but as her heart beat hard in her chest, she knows it’s the one they both needed. A declaration. When he finishes the song, he meets her misty eyes hesitantly.

“Hey.”  
“Hey yourself,” Pike sniffs, and smiles blindingly at him. “I love it. I love you. Thank you Scanlan.” She sets her tea gingerly on the bedside table, and leaning over the guitar, she kisses him. Her face is damp, and Scanlan gently kisses the tears from her cheeks, down her jawline to catch one that’s rolling down to her chin. He kisses her lips once more, his mouth tasting of salt, and then leans back.

“Just a sec.”  
He gingerly removes the guitar from where it laid nearly forgotten in his lap, and nestles it in its case on the floor before turning back to Pike. He crawls back across the bed, and where before he sat at a small distance, he now plasters himself to Pike’s waiting side, her strong arms curling around him as she draws him back to her and into a kiss. Pike could kiss him forever and never grow tired of it. He kisses her with such care, his movements gentle and undemanding, letting her set the pace. Just as in life, he follows her lead with enthusiasm. As she pulls back to gaze at him, with his flushed face and kiss-swollen lips, she sees the trust and the love in his eyes and she knows that he really would follow her anywhere. She smiles.

“Thank you, love. It was perfect.”  
He practically glows with satisfaction, and kisses her again in response.


End file.
